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Article on Next Year (Quote Made Me Laugh)

Posted on27 March 2012.

Here’s a ROANOKE TIMES ARTICLE about JT leaving, Seth staying, and our prospects for next year.  One quote in particular made me laugh though…

“Greenberg wants the Hokies to play faster next season, which could lead to better shots.”

Every offseason we hear it (usually from Seth) — we are going to play faster this season; we are going to push the ball more; we are going to pressure the ball more… and every season by Game 10, or by the time ACC play rolls around, we are a half court only team that will literally hold the ball after turnovers instead of pushing it.  And inbounds the ball quickly and run a secondary break?  Pish posh!  Not gonna happen.  So call me skeptical but I’ll believe it when I see it.  I’d like to see it, but we’ll see.  Leopards can’t change their spots, or something to that effect.  Until we correct the mistakes we see time after time on the break (not passing, poor spacing), it won’t work.  And unless you truly commit to it, and not scrap it after a few mistakes, it won’t get better.  Stay tuned.

This post was written by:

- who has written 1106 posts on Tech Hoops.

Niemo is a member of the VT Class of '98. Attended every home basketball game during his 4 years at VT after missing the first home game. Has attended 122 straight VT football home games (every game since '94), eclipsing the 100 mark in September of '09. During the final home basketball game of his senior year, he was brought onto the court and was awarded 2 passes to the Atlantic 10 Basketball Tournament in Philly during a timeout. The Hokie Bird made the award on behalf of Athletic Director Jim Weaver. Niemo was known to be in the front row of every home game with his familiar red afro hairdo. Niemo currently lives in DC and speaks the Hokie gospel as often as possible. He watches over 50% of all ACC games, making him one of the most knowledgeable experts on ACC basketball.

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  • HipHop_Hokie

    Count me in that skeptical group… I don’t see us getting appreciably faster next year. I do want to be more up-tempo, but more than anything else I just want to be efficient. Holding the ball until there’s 5 seconds on the shot clock and then just throwing up whatever shot from there is not a good look.

    We must pound the paint next year with Raines, Finney-Smith, Barksdale, and Harrell. I think that we’ll be at our best when we are effectively drawing fouls and converting at the free-throw line. Just more aggression in general, please. Passive basketball is very boring and very tough to support.

  • Will Stewart

    That’s funny, Niemo — I read that and literally LOL’d at the breakfast table. My wife said, “What?” and I said, “Never mind.”

    By the way, that promise to increase the tempo, play faster, blah-blah-blah dates all the way back to Bill Foster. It’s not just a Seth thing.

    • Niemo

      I don’t understand why I can’t have one exciting offensive team in my sports portfolio! Hokies football? Run first, grind clock. Hokies bball? Thank goodness for shot clocks or we’d play 4-corners all game! Braves baseball? EVERYONE is in a career worst year (last year). Falcons football? (see Hokie football). Sabres hockey? (See Braves baseball). Yeesh. I’m debating about rooting for wazzou and Mike Leach just to have one offensive juggernaut!

      And yes, Foster was the same way. I’ll give guys like Foster/Greenberg credit – at least they have a system. Guys like Lowe, Hewitt, stokes, etc have no identity and their teams show it. You have to have a baseline to start from. I just don’t understand why Seth keeps saying he’s going to change it! Just admit we’ll always be boring to watch and move on.

  • RK in Roanoke

    Play faster, yea right? Of course play faster to Seth may just mean that Green will start his drive from between the circles with 15 seconds on the clock instead of 9.
    Am i the only old guy reading this (excellent) site that remembers when the marketing campaign was the “Hurryin’ Hokies”? Ah yes, the good old days of Charlie Moir. Still a bubble team, but fun to watch.

  • 69HOKIE

    Chris Coleman’s latest article concerning recruiting shows another reason why VT basketball will continue to flounder. Seth keeps firing blanks in recruiting. I think we do have some VERY good players right now. Maybe someone else could do more with them. (Maybe an assitant??) But look at the misses Seth has had. It looks like we will miss again this recruiting season in filling our need for a PG. If we do miss and Rankin doesn’t improve, next year will be like 2011-2012. We might win 18 or 19 games, only because our talent succeeds despite the coaching.

  • Les

    In the absence of backcourt players who can create turnovers, we need another big to shore up the rebounding and add some scoring. If not, I’d take a shot at the 7-3 guy as a project (you can’t have all 13 play significant minutes next year).

  • http://www.heyhokie.com Goodraisin

    I’m not sure that I believe myself, but I think it’s been a while since we’ve had the guards necessary to be a team like the one Greenberg wants to be. I think Greenberg can carry some blame for recruiting who he recruited, but I’m mostly going to put the fault on the players. When was the last time VT had successful fastbreaks? Back when Dowdell and Gordon were leading the team. Both guys racked up steals and kick-started fastbreaks. Add in Deron Washington, and you had 3 guys who could get a break started quickly. Add in Coleman Collins, and you had 4 guys who could finish a fastbreak with Dowdell/Gordon leading the break and Collins/Washington trailing for follow-up dunks. Both of those guards had good vision and looked to pass on the break. Since then, we’ve suffered through fastbreaks where Delaney, Hudson, and Green had tunnel vision. Luckily, I think Rankin already has really good vision and looks up as soon as he touches the ball to start a fastbreak. We haven’t had a true point guard who makes plays for teammates in a while, and I think Rankin will be that guy.

    • hokiegrad

      I agree 100%, and I’m also looking for Rankin to be that guy. I love Brown and I’m really excited to see how he progresses. I expect him to contribute a lot next year and be ready to start the following two years. I think he can be all-ACC before he leaves. But from before they stepped on campus I have hoped that Rankin would claim a starting spot first. Not because I think he’s any better than Brown, but because we already have Green at SG and we desperately need someone with Rankin’s skill set running the point. We will be a better team if Rankin develops enough to win that starting job.

    • kiawahhokie

      Ditto, but Robert Brown really needs to work on ball security this offseason. He does the same slow-motion crossover dribble at the top of the key and turned it over too many times down the stretch.
      Rankin, on the other hand, played great and I really liked how he stepped up and took a few big shots in the last few games we played.
      I also hope that JvZ hits the gym this summer and learns some post moves from Raines so we can have a legitimate inside presence against some of the bigger teams in the conference (Duke, UNC, Miami) so we won’t pass around the perimeter for 30 seconds and then shoot a contested 3 every possession

      • http://www.heyhokie.com Goodraisin

        I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that JVZ will be a serviceable backup center next year. An offseason in the gym + more practice with the team should at least make him a viable player defensively… he has the athleticism to really contribute there. Any offensive production would be a plus, but I’m more interested in him being a defensive player first.

      • Ryan C

        JVZ is already blocking shots like no one’s business in practice.

  • chuck

    So, by show of hands….

    Who would rather see us demonstrate some effective offensive sets in the half-court rather than “push the ball” (however that would manifest itself in Seth’s world)?

    /right hand raised

  • Another 6’8″ guy

    Darrell Johnson, a 6-foot-8, 235-pound forward from Parkway North (St. Louis, Mo.), has trimmed his list to two: the University of Memphis and Virginia Tech.

    Johnson plans to officially visit the University of Memphis next weekend, but the visit could be pushed back due to him taking an entrance exam. Either way, the Tigers will get a visit from the forward.

    He will take a trip to Virginia Tech this week.

    http://blogs.commercialappeal.com/the_memphis_edge/2012/04/2012-st-louis-down-to-two-will-visit-memphis.html

    • Niemo

      Yep – I was noting that in another article’s comments section. Guy isn’t highly rated but he must be pretty solid if he has offers from the likes of memphis, VT, and some solid mid-majors.

      Keep in mind that I’ll take all the bigs we can get (well, near bigs since they are all 6’8″ to 6’9″ as you point out). We always have depth issues inside, so the more the merrier in my opinion. Yes, we desperately need some guards, but we have 3 schollies to play with, so let’s get another big.

    • Les

      I noticed he went up against Missouri-commit Ryan Rosburg who was recruited by Tech. VT is his only solid offer. He’s being recruited as a 5 elsewhere. I can’t tell by looking at him whether he has anything new that we don’t already have upfront, such as muscle, weakside shot blocking, etc.

      Lenz was looking highly unlikely for Tech with the scheduled officials stretched out for a month after the visit to Blacksburg.

      Some sites had Omogun listed as receiving interest, but he seems to have quit his last school mid-season. Not good. His videos from Western Nebraska looked impressive.

      It looks like Finney-Smith and Eddie will move to the shooting guard at least some of the time.


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2012-13 Schedule

November
11/10 Hokies 80, etsu 62
11/12 Hokies 69, rhode island 50
11/15 Hokies 95, vmi 80
11/19 Hokies 96, unc-g 87
11/23 Hokies 87, appalachian state 76
**ACC/BIG Ten Challenge**
11/27 Hokies 95, iowa 79
December
12/1 Hokies 81, #15 oklahoma state 71
12/8 wvu 68, Hokies 67
**Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic**
12/10 Hokies 70, mvsu 49
12/15 Georgia Southern 78, Hokies 73
12/22 Hokies 66, bradley 65, OT
12/23 colorado state 88, Hokies 52
**Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic**
12/29 byu 97, Hokies 71
January
1/5 maryland 94, Hokies 71
1/9 boston college 86, Hokies 75
1/12 Hokies 70, georgia tech 65
1/19 Hokies 66, wake forest 65
1/24 virginia 74, Hokies 58
1/27 clemson 77, Hokies 70
1/30 miami 73, Hokies 64
February
2/2 unc 72, Hokies 60, OT
2/7 maryland 60, Hokies 55
2/9 Georgia Tech 64, hokies 54
2/12 virginia 73, Hokies 55
2/16 nc state 90, Hokies 86
2/21 duke 88, Hokies 56
2/24 Hokies 80, fsu 70
2/27 miami 76, Hokies 58
March
3/2 Hokies 69, clemson 61
3/5 duke 85, Hokies 57
3/10 wake 90, Hokies 79
**ACC Tournament in Greensboro**
3/14 vs. nc state, 2:30 p.m.
3/15 Quarterfinals
3/16 Semifinals
3/17 Finals

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